2G scam: SC to go through TRAI report on no loss to exchequer

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday said that it would like to go through the TRAI report which said that there was no loss to public exchequer in the allotment to 2G spectrum during the tenure of former Telecom Minister A Raja.

A bench of justices G S Singhvi and H L Dattu made a query in this regard with the CBI which said it was an inter-departmental communication and would place that report before it in a sealed envelope.

"It is not a public document and it is confidential," Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Harin Raval, appearing for the agency, said.

The bench made the query when senior advocate Ram Jethmalani, appearing for Unitech Wireless' Managing Director Sanjay Chandra, pointed out the newspaper reports which said that TRAI ( Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) has come to the conclusion that there was no loss to public exchequer.

"If newspaper can get the report then why you have objection in placing it before us," the bench said to which the CBI replied that it would place it in a sealed envelope.

"We want to know what TRAI said is correct or not. It (TRAI report) has come into public domain. Is it not a public document,? the Bench asked the ASG who reiterated that "it is not a public document".

The Bench then asked "how the newpapers got the TRAI report. If it has been disclosed to the newspapers it cannot with withheld from us".

The court was hearing bail pleas of Chandra and Swan Telecom's Director Vinod Goenka who have alleged that the CBI was acting in a discriminatory and arbitrary manner in 2G spectrum case.